Impulse Buy
by ktface3
Summary: “Got it a week after we started dating.” And thusly, millions of girls' expectations climb a little higher. Hastily posted oneshot, as is my fashion.


_A/N: so I just want to say that these oneshots I've been coming up with lately wouldn't be anything without the brilliant writers on The Office. These past two episodes have simply been inspiring in so many ways, and I hope you are all as excited as I am for Night Out on Thursday!! As for this story, it's fairly obvious what it's about, and I definitely wrote it on a whim, so I hope it's to your liking. Special thanks to the most awesome girl around, MrsBigTuna, for the quickest beta in history. And once you're done here, I suggest you mosey on over to her profile page and check out her stuff. Her newest one is about "That One Night." Yeah, you know wat I'm talkin' 'bout! :) Please read, review, and enjoy!_

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He hadn't meant to do it. He was just walking through downtown and thinking of her. He had been thinking of her a lot lately. They had seen each other four out of the last seven nights, and each one of them proved to be better than the last. All exceeded his wildest dreams of what he thought moments like that with her could be: a kiss at her doorway, holding her hand, and a new smile he noticed the very first night they had gone to dinner. That smile was something she never had given him before, and he had almost rarely had he seen it while she was with Roy. In that smile, he knew she was completely, blissfully happy to be with him. He felt the same way.

And so, as he walked down the street, thinking of the daydreams he had held onto for so long, it finally hit him: this was real. It wasn't something to be hidden away for years or confessed in the dark; it was a fact. She was something tangible now, after what seemed like lifetimes of being a fleeting vapor that he would reach out his hand to and grasp onto nothing. He could hold her now, and as he came to a street corner and stopped to wait for traffic to clear, he looked up into the bright blue sky and realized he never ever wanted to let her go.

At that street corner, after what he could only imagine was block upon block of mindlessly drifting through town, he finally looked at his surroundings. He was nearing the park, where he was going to meet some of his friends for a pick-up game of baseball. They had been complaining that they hadn't seen him in a while, and he didn't blame them. The past week had been a blur to him, and he had almost forgotten to recognize what he had lost in the whole exchange: Karen.

He barely knew what he was saying that cool spring day at the fountain in Central Park. The words were spilling out of him with no thought to edit his language so as not to hurt her so badly. He regretted it later as he drove home without her, and did mourn somewhat for losing her. She hadn't been a bad girlfriend at all, and at times even his thoughts of who he really wanted in his life seemed to falter. He could've had no trouble staying with her, but that was too easy for him. He needed to put himself on the line once again, and this time he was euphoric over the results.

When he told his friends he was blowing off their weekly poker night to spend more time with her, they had chastised him to no end. Dan had made sure to tell him just what kind of anatomy he had for being such a sappy romantic over her, but he didn't care. Dan was an idiot, who changed girlfriends at a higher rate than toothbrushes, so he didn't expect him to understand what this was. This was something even he was only starting to understand the full scope of, but he knew he liked it. No. He loved it.

He loved her. He always had, but now that he had an outlet for his affections, it was even better. He felt his pace quicken, not because of how late he was going to be for his game, but because of the endorphins that seemed to be constantly circulating through his body now. He felt invincible with every thought of her.

And that's when a glint caught the corner of his eye, which made him stop in his tracks. It was only a mere flash of light for a split second, caused by the afternoon sun on the sparkling jewels in the window, but he also knew it was so much more than that. His reason tried to tell him that his confidence was getting the better of him, but his intuition told him otherwise. Was he really ever going to let this woman go? After all he had gone through to make her attainable? He tilted his head and looked at the jewelry in the window, and after a moment of inner struggle, he decided there was no harm in looking. He was already late enough to his game anyway.

Inside, the cool air conditioning hit him like a blast of wind from the Arctic, and he had to rub his eyes to adjust to the lighting in the place. Unlike the bright sun outside, this store seemed to only have lights over its merchandise, enticing buyers with every glitter they made. It took him a moment for him to not feel awkward in his own body as he stood just inside the entrance, and the thought, "What are you doing here? This is nuts!" seemed to pass through his mind more than once.

But then he remembered why he had decided to come in in the first place. He wanted something to show her that he never wanted what he had with her to end. His feeling of invincibility slowly returned as he thought about how the world could throw anything at him now, and as long as she was by his side, he could endure whatever life had to bring. If he got to see her tender smile every day, and if he got to make her laugh, and even if he was just able to reach out and touch her, he knew he would be happy for the rest of his days.

And so after a deep breath to exhale all of the doubt lurking inside of him, he walked confidently up to a counter and began his search for perfection. It wouldn't be anything less; after all, he had not settled on anyone but her, and so she deserved something that told her that. He skipped over several that seemed entirely too large and gaudy for her, remembering what an extravagant ring had compensated for the last time she had worn one on her finger. This had to be something simple, and yet something with some elegance and radiance to it. He could hear a saleslady making a friendly pitch to him, but he chose to wave her off politely. He knew he would find what he was looking for all on his own.

He had searched meticulously through three display cases when he finally came upon it. It was a thin gold band with one rather sizeable diamond in it, and it shimmered under the lights, practically screaming to be picked up. He pointed to it through the glass and the saleslady took it out for him to get a closer look, and as soon as he had it up close, he knew it was flawless. He smiled, feeling his cheeks flush as he thought about all the possibilities of what the ring stood for, but he snapped back to reality as he realized he needed to pay for it and make it his. Without much haste, he pulled out his credit card and told the lady assertively that he'd take it, and so she smiled courteously at him and took his purchase to the register.

He was on cloud nine leaving the store. He had three thousand, five hundred dollars now charged to his credit card, and a priceless promise to the woman he loved in his pocket. He looked at the time on his cell phone and realized he was almost an hour late to his baseball game, but that hardly mattered anymore. He practically shook with the excitement over new dreams and possibilities he now had: wondering how he could give it to her, wondering what it would feel like for her to say yes, and wondering just how to spend the rest of his life in a state of complete bliss.

Then it dawned on him, and with that thought, he could feel his confidence rapidly melting away. Too soon. This was way too soon. If he gave it to her now, she would certainly feel rushed. She would have to lecture him on how she felt about being engaged, and how she wanted to make sure before she became committed that she would feel comfortable and confident about it. But he knew all that about her. He had endured the stories and had grudgingly given her advice throughout the whole ordeal. And so, even though all he wanted to do was shove the ring at her and make it official, he knew he had to wait until his chances of getting an affirmative answer increased. He couldn't bare the thought of her saying anything to him except for yes.

And so, with one final look at the ring to make sure it was real, he put it back in his pocket and briskly walked the last few blocks to the park to meet his friends. A sense of calm rushed over him though, as he thought about delaying his proposal. This would give him time to plan something just right for her, and would certainly make her see exactly how he felt. How he had always felt. For now though, he would just have to hang on to his impulse buy, and keep every other one of his thoughts on how exactly to give it to her.

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_You know what I want from you. (That's what she said. Literally.) Review please!_


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